CHAPTER334
“I just found out that she’s pregnant.” Ben is pushing fingers through his hair, rubbing his face in complete agitation. “I’ve been away for a while on business … London. I only got back yesterday.” He seems so overwhelmed and completely rattled. We’re sitting in the quiet booth of a bar near the one we came from. It’s almost deserted and both men are cradling neat gin while I hold a glass of coke. I’m too wired and awake to contemplate sleep now. Ben’s revelation has all sorts of crazy plots swimming through my overemotional brain and Jake seems far too calm and in control from this revelation, to be good for him.
“So … The baby could be either of ours and yet she failed to mention it?” Jake appears pensive. He’s been in
closed-off thoughtful mode since Ben’s disclosure, with his dark looks and scowling tone, and I really want to
know what’s going on in his brain. He’s not someone to hide a temper flare-up unless something more sinister is brewing in that clever head of his. This is very much business brain mode and usually means a whole lot of trouble is brewing in its calculated depths.
“She came to me after the awards show. The after party you and her apparently hooked up at.” Ben downs his gin and slides the glass away while Jake continues to cradle and swirl his. “Told me she wanted to give us another go and proceeded to fuck me stupid for three days with no protection because she was on the pill. Then I never heard from her again.” Ben’s face tightens, anger on show, now obvious to the game of manipulation he’s been duped into.
There’s a lurch in my stomach at the disgust of any woman being that vile, that conniving.
“But if she was on the pill then she wouldn’t have got pregnant, right?” Ben looks at me as though expecting to confirm it, but Jake cuts in.
“Emma’s pregnant and she was most definitely on the pill.” I nod, what else can I do in a conversation so over my capabilities right now. This bitch was riding Jake’s back for months and now he might not even be the father at all.
“Oh … Congratulations, Emma.” Ben frowns and gazes at his glass again, both men mulling things over, trying to decide if Marissa’s pregnancy was planned or accidental.
“Thanks, Ben,” I reply shyly, noticing Jake’s unapproving glare toward Ben. I interrupt to break up whatever that look meant. “I think she got with you to ensure she would get pregnant and lied about the pill. She was making sure there would be a baby no matter what and she probably has no idea which of you it belongs too, hence the resemblance.” I carry on, instead of silently listening. My brain is whirring in chaos, trying to figure out if one woman could really be this cold and calculated.
Ben is as close to Jake in looks as earthly possible, so it would make sense to ensure that when she got pregnant, she would pick someone to resemble Jake. That way, when the baby came, he wouldn’t question paternity and possibly drop the DNA request just on looks alone.
Was she that desperate to link herself to him for a lifetime that she would do this?
How could any woman have so very little morals or self-decency?
“She’s turned down the DNA request enough times.” Jake cuts in before Ben can answer, his mind slowly turning over my theory. I can see it in his face, the same one used to churn over business proposals that I thought might be of benefit to his company.
Both men regard one another for a second, some strange look transpiring before them, and Ben sighs heavily. The atmosphere is weirdly calm considering these two are at the same table and the topic is Marissa.
“I’m sorry, Jake … Not for this shit, but for the past, for letting her get inside my head making me believe she meant more to me than our friendship did.” Ben looks defeated and remorseful sitting with a bowed head and sad expression.
My breath catches in my throat as a hit of emotion inside of me flashes, at this sudden apology right out of the blue.
Jake pauses and stiffens, exhaling loudly, before sitting back in his seat.
“You were in love with her … I thought I was too.” He shrugs quietly looking at Ben with absolutely no emotion whatsoever.
Thought? Meaning he never really was?
I catch the way he’s looking at me and I get it. He thought he knew love until he found it with the right person and my stomach somersault, a little jump of happiness, probably mildly inappropriate right now.
“I know, but I should’ve seen her what she was, the way she always twisted things, so she was the victim. For years, she had me hating you, believing that you broke her heart and she could never trust me because of it. Too stupid to realize it was all her and you were just as much a part of the fall out as I was.” He looks genuinely sorry. There’s something decent coming through about Ben, despite what I know of him and the past, underneath all that anger and rivalry is a guy that once meant a lot to Jake.
“And now? … Your obviously still in love her if you wanted to try again?” Jake watches Ben intensely and Ben shrugs.
“I was … Maybe I still am. I don’t know. I never could understand why no matter what I did she wanted you. But now I realize, Marissa doesn’t know love, she only does possession. She thinks you owe her; she hates that you walked away and won’t accept that she can’t have you. To her I’m a sure bet she can pick up whenever she feels like it so to her, I’m not any fun anymore.” He sighs, knocking his glass against the table, emotions running across his face in a flash.
“She’s cold and calculated so none of this surprises me.” Jake laces his fingers in mine and pulls my hand to his mouth, rubbing my knuckles across his lips. A gentle gesture to reassure me because of the topic, always caring about how I feel. Right now, with him and all this mess, I’m strangely detached and emotionally tired; Marissa and her antics exhaust me.
“So, what do we do now? … How do we find out who the father is?” Ben is watching us a little closely, hints of envy glimmering in his pretty face.
“We can’t find out for definite until it’s here, but I’m not one to sit back and wait while she calls all the shots. We go see her, now, and let her know her little fucking game is up.” Jake’s tone has tightened considerably, and I think the anger is beginning to settle in. The fact that she’s been deceiving us all for months has obviously dawned on him. My chest tightens and I turn to Jake with wide worried eyes.
“You want to confront her?” I sound childlike and vulnerable suddenly, every instinct telling me he shouldn’t do this tonight.
“Why not?” Jake has the look of a man severely pissed and not about to drop it. He’s also more than a little drunk and impulsive spontaneity is his worst trait when he’s under the influence.
“Because it’s stupid o’clock in the morning and you’re both drunk.” I try for sense, not getting any, with a wolf like snarl they both nod in agreeance at Jake’s plan.
“Can’t imagine a better time.” Ben quips in and both men raise an eyebrow in solidarity. It’s not hard to see that these two used to get along. They are annoyingly similar right now, reading each other’s minds, already making moves to get up.
Oh crap, crap, shit.
“You don’t even know where she is.” I sound panicked and I am. This has stupid written all over it and a part of me wants Jake to take me home so we can talk alone and process all of this. I have no idea what confronting her right now will do.
“She’s here in Manhattan, her father’s apartment.” Ben points out as Jake lifts his full glass from the table and downs it in one very fast glug."
